My daughter needs to have this done on both sides because she has thoracic outlet syndrome. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, skip this message and find something more interesting to read!
But if you or a family member have had this done, I am interested to hear your experiences. How bad was the pain? Recovery time?
Unfortunately, she is heading into finals, so it looks like she may need to take incompletes for the semester and sort it out later. Surgery can’t be postponed, as the condition led to a life-threatening blood clot.
I know nothing about it, but your poor D! It is astonishing how many things one has never heard of that people can suffer from. My eyes have been opened by the experiences of many here. Best to her and your family.
I’d never heard of it either until a few days ago. She had a swollen arm, which she thought was due to exercise (she has begun doing weights), then her hand turned purple and swelled up. She went to health services and they immediately sent her to the ER. And all of this while we are in the middle of a move to Maine. Fortunately, her dad is down there with her.
The human body is amazingly complex, that is for sure.
Long retired anesthesiologist here. Great to have a surgical cure. Once it is over and done with it won’t recur. Wouldn’t know post op pain et al, sorry. Best wishes to her- having had my own experiences as a patient for other things I know it takes time to heal. btw- it takes many months, years for scars to evolve- they can appear pretty ugly for quite awhile so tell her not to be discouraged with appearances.
@wis75, thank you for chiming in. Although I am sure she won’t be thrilled about the scar, I’m sure she’ll find it preferable to dying of a pulmonary embolism! She should hear soon about the date of the surgery, and whether they will do both sides, since both are affected.
Thanks so much for your kind wishes. My daughter and I met with her surgeon today, and are confident in his competence. People fly in from all over to have him do this procedure. She is home on leave, but we will drive back to the Boston area to have the procedure done in a little less than two weeks.
